Three German skiers die in the avalanche in Austria and a fourth is missing if heavy snowfall occurs in Europe

Two employees in a ski resort in the French Alps died today when the avalanche checks they were trying to set ended inadvertently.

Three German skiers were also killed in an avalanche in the Austrian Alps – and a fourth is missing, because the worst snowfall in 30 years continues to hit Europe.

The pair of French workers carried out a controlled explosion when the accident occurred at a height of 6,000 feet (1,800 meters) in the Morillon ski resort in France, "worked on an avalanche prevention program," said mountain-rescue experts.

Controlled explosions are performed before the slopes open to reduce the risk of larger avalanches.

They worked with the explosives when the accident happened, the local police said after an initial investigation.

Meteo France forecasters had warned of a high avalanche danger in the Savoy and Haute-Savoie after a fresh nightfall, as the police said today when the snow was set again in the northern Alps.

The bodies of the three German men – 57, 36 and 32 years old – were found last night at the ski resort Lech, a few hours after the wife of one of the skiers had reported them missing.

Today, men remove a tree from a snow-covered street in Unterstmatt, southern Germany, when the worst snowfall hit the continent in 30 years.

A truck and a traditional cart pass each other in the snowy village of Nesutychi, 140 km west of Minsk, Belarus

Tourists from Guatemala remove snow from the roof of their rental car in Grindelwald, Switzerland

Rescuers try to free a bus locked up in the snow in the hotel Saentis in Schwaegalp

A fireman removes a snow-covered fallen tree on a road in Hofsgrund, today, when workers are fighting to clear blocked roads after heavy snowfall

The police in Vorarlberg, the westernmost province of Austria, said they had to abandon the search for another missing German skier in the group, at the age of 28, due to heavy snowfall and the risk of avalanches.

The avalanche brings at least 26 the number of weather-related deaths reported in parts of Europe this month.

The police said the friends had apparently skied on a closed path.

Although they had avalanche protection and deployed airbags, the victims were buried by the avalanche and suffered multiple injuries. They were found using telephone tracking.

On Saturday the authorities in southern Germany and Austria used a break to remove heavy snow from roofs and roads.

But the snow went back on Saturday night. In the Bavarian town of Kempten, the local authorities closed 11 sports halls as a precautionary measure because the weight of the snow on their roofs was expected to increase, the German news agency DPA reported.

The blanket of snow is expected to remain in Central and Northern Europe in the middle of next week. In Britain, predictors warned of heavy frost and snow after the repetition of the conditions that preceded the Beast from the East last winter.

A man pulls snow from a roof of a building in Elisabethszell, Germany, now heavy snowfall continued to attack Europe

Johannes Riedel of the state forest stands for trees that are covered by the burden of snow and that today investigate the damage

Kim, a tourist from South Korea, makes photo's of the snow in Grindelwald, Switzerland today

Forces of the Bundeswehr, the mountain rescue service and the police clear a snow-covered roof in Wolfratshausen, Germany. A state of emergency has been declared throughout Europe and tanks are being used to save homeowners from deep snow in Germany and Austria after the death of at least 26 people, in the midst of a devastating white-out once in the generation.

A driver of a snowplow died Friday in Germany after his vehicle fell into an ice-cold river, while an electrician in Albania suffered a fatal heart attack while repairing damaged power lines. The police in Lenggries, south of Munich, said the 48-year-old snow plow driver was rescued from the river after a few hours, but died in a hospital (photo is a snow plow driver in Germany)

Trains between the German cities of Munich and Lindau, on Lake Constance near the Austrian border, were slower than normal, due to the risk that trees polluted by the snow could fall on the rails.

Heavy snow paralyzed a large part of Europe for yet another day, cutting off mountain villages, sparking avalanches as one that crashed into a Swiss hotel and killing at least four more people Friday.

Employees at the Saentis hotel in Eastern Switzerland Friday spent the hips deep snow after a 330-yard (300 meters) wide avalanche was thrown through the hotel's windows on Thursday afternoon and piled up in the rooms and dining room.

A state of emergency was in effect in parts of Europe last night after the worst snowfall for at least 30 years.

Tanks and troops were called to save homeowners from neck-deep snow in Germany and Austria, because the whiteout looked after the weekend.

British skiers were faced with thousands of long delays on their airport transfers to and from resorts in Austria due to road conditions, but sources from the travel industry said they had not snowed or reported reports of Britons.

In Switzerland, a 1000-foot wide avalanche plowed through the front of a hotel while diners were eating. Three people were injured but miraculously there were no deaths.

Parts of Europe have been paralyzed in recent days with snow that cuts off remote mountain villages and disrupts transport. Avalanche warnings were at critical levels.

A state of emergency has been declared throughout Europe and tanks are used to rescue homeowners from neck-deep snow in Germany and Austria after the death of at least 26 people, amid a devastating white-out of winter in winter (two trains stand Right in an imbued train station in the Bavarian town of Berchtesgaden)

A short break in the weather ensures that employees in Southern Germany can try to remove large amounts of snow from roofs and roads. Heavy snow has paralyzed parts of Europe in recent days, cut down mountain villages and disrupted transport

In Switzerland, a 1000-foot wide avalanche plowed through the front of a hotel while diners were eating. They have all survived, but there are up to 26 deaths on the European mainland after the worst snowfall in the living memory. Roads are blocked, train services are stopped and schools are closed

The state of emergency was declared in a large part of southern Germany, with soldiers deployed to lure people into the trap. The army was also called by Albania, Montenegro and Serbia.

"Such amounts of snow above 800 m altitude happen once every 30 to 100 years," said the Austrian meteorologist Alexander Radlherr. Austrian military helicopters rescued 66 German teenagers from a mountain hotel on Friday for a few days.

The snow is up to 10 ft (3 m) deep in parts of the country, where seven people died last week. Two hikers have also been missing since last Saturday.

The army used helicopters to blow away snow from treetops to reduce the risk of trees falling on roads and railways.

Sweden and Norway were hit by similar problems, while three diners were injured when an avalanche crossed the Schwägalp pass in the Swiss Alps and crashed at Hotel Santis.

A guest in the hotel restaurant said that he initially thought that snow fell from the roof. "There was a gigantic noise and the back of the restaurant was flooded with masses of snow", the guest told the media.

In the southern state of Bavaria in Germany, a nine-year-old boy was killed by a tree that collapsed under the weight of snow. It took 40 minutes before he was found and the emergency services could not bring him to life.

Avalanche warnings are placed at critical levels throughout Europe after heavy snowfall that has caused red weather warnings – such as predictors warn that the snow will continue in the middle of next week.

Soldiers of the German armed forces Bundeswehr leave the Jaeger barracks in Berchtesgaden to remove snow from buildings in the center of Berchtesgaden, German

A car passes by Friday with crates of beer bottles covered in snow in Einsiedel, near Chemnitz, Sachsen, Germany

Meteorological Office forecaster Sarah Kent said: "We are not sure if the wind is coming from the Arctic or Siberia, but it can get very cold.

& # 39; There is certainly an increased risk of widespread hard night frost and as weather systems that encounter cold air, this increases the likelihood of snow.

Several towns and villages in southwestern Serbia introduced emergency measures, warned of snow on the roads and sealing mountain villages, the Serbian state television reported Friday. Most schools in the neighborhood are closed and 10 people had to be rescued from their homes. Strong winds made the work of the emergency services more difficult.

In neighboring Montenegro, meteorologist Dragan Buric said that the first ten days of January are among the coldest in the country in decades.

We have snow in the capital (Podgorica) in January for the first time in nine years, & # 39; Buric told the Montenegrin state television.

Three guests in a hotel in the Swiss Alps were wounded on Thursday after an avalanche was thrown in the restaurant around 4.30 pm and buried 25 cars outside.

A bus was also left covered in snow behind the entrance of the hotel, after the avalanche was draped over a hill in Hundwil, Switzerland.

Emergency services said they were still looking for people who might be missing in the aftermath of the avalanche in the municipality of Hundwil

The search had to be interrupted by failing light tonight, but no hotel guests, skiers or walkers were reported missing

Rescue teams carry out searches in the avalanche area at the foot of the Säntis mountain (back-center) – the highest summit in the Alpstein Massif of Eastern Switzerland

The road to Hundwil was closed after an avalanche came down, cars buried and part of the restaurant of Hotel Santis

Brit killed in alpine dive

A British holidaymaker died after falling from a chair lift in the French Alps.

Jeff Martin, 65, collapsed on the elevator after he had a heart attack and then fell off the moving elevator, from a height of 32ft. Emergency services tried to resuscitate him for 30 minutes in vain.

Mr. Martin, an experienced sailor who lived in Falmouth and performed at the London Olympics in 2012, was on holiday in the ski resort of Méribel.

He boarded the six-person chairlift with a friend on Friday afternoon and they were the only two passengers. Less than a minute later he became ill and then fell off the elevator to the mountain below.

Jeff Martin (photo above) who died in Méribel, French Alps, during the ski holiday